Disclaimer: I do not own. Rinse and repeat.

Author's Notes: I'm sorry I took so terribly long to post an update, but I was going through a bit of a block and wanted to make sure I was writing again before I posted. I'm about halfway through the next chapter now so hopefully you won't have to wait this long again.

Note: There is sex in this chapter.

Chapter 24: Night Falls

"When you feel your hearts guarded
And you see the break started
When the clouds have all departed
You'll be right here with me"

Right Here- Brandy

Quistis readied her whip with a strange sense of finality. A sensation of emptiness filled her, making her feel as though there was a black hole where her heart ought to be, sucking everything into it until she was numb. This evening's meeting with Squall and the other Garden members had brought news. The location of the GF's had been determined: an underground base dug deep into the solid grounds of the Salt Flats. They had previously been the ruins that Odine's scientists had explored.

In the morning she would be accompanying Squall and several others to the site. Their goal was to talk and reach some sort of agreement that would satisfy both sides. Everyone knew that an all out war would be an endless bloodbath, and the only true victims would be the humans involved. Still, a confrontation was possible and they had to be prepared for that.

And while she went that way, Seifer would go the other way and out of her life. It was strange to think that at first she'd been reluctant to even speak to him, and now his leaving left a heavy loneliness within her.

Setting her whip aside,Quistis shrugged away the feelings and stood, crossing towards the picture window to gaze out across the city of Balamb. The ocean stretched out beyond and she could see the domed sister shapes of the Gardens bobbing ever so slightly on the waves.

Beside the window, glass double doors led out to the small balcony with a seaside view. Quistis pushed them open to step into the sea air. Leaning out over the railing she drew a deep breath and caught the acrid smell of cigarette smoke. She turned to see Seifer on the balcony next to hers – cigarette held loosely between his thumb and forefinger. Smoke curled up from the tip of it and dissipated into the air.

He glanced over at her briefly, then turned his attention back to the distant horizon. Quistis shifted and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. Awkwardness that hadn't been there before hung between them.

Wrapping long fingers around the railing, Quistis stepped out of her shoes one at a time. She flexed her toes, busying herself with the mundane action. To her left, Seifer took out a lighter and lit another cigarette. She wrinkled her nose and turned towards him slowly.

"I wouldn't have pegged you as someone who could become addicted to something. I thought you didn't like to be dependent on anything."

He smirked then lifted the cigarette to his lips once more.

"Don't be stupid, Trepe. I'm not addicted. I didn't smoke at all on your dumb mission."

She frowned thoughtfully and realized that he hadn't – at least not in front of her.

"Then why smoke them at all?" she asked.

He shrugged his broad shoulders. "Why does anyone? For the feeling. Relaxes you."

She said nothing to that, only inched further away from the stench of the smoke he was blowing into the air.

The clouds above were sparse and provided only passing shadows from the strong sunlight. Quistis gathered the hair at the nape of her neck and fixed it tidily back into her hair clip. Though they had fallen into silence again, this time it was more comfortable. She let it hang for a while, listening to the distant cry of seagulls and the faint crashing of waves upon the shore.

Looking out on the quaint town gave her a sense of simplicity that she never felt in her own daily life. Today there were no monsters, no endless armies, and no manipulating sorceress. She would forget for now that tomorrow she would go back to that life and everything it meant.

Quistis turned to watch Seifer stub his cigarette out on the railing and raised her gaze to meet his. A smoldering burn in those green depths told her she wasn't the only one feeling conflicted about tomorrow.

"What will you do next?" she asked.

He looked surprised by the question and shrugged slightly, leaning his forearms against the railing and gazed unseeing out into the distance for a long moment.

"Don't know for sure," he finally said, pushing a hand over his forehead to rub the strands of hair that tickled lightly at his brow. "Probably use the money to buy a ticket somewhere, try and set up where I can find something useful to do."

"You won't go back to Fisherman's Horizon?" Quistis asked, studying the way the sunlight glinted against the lighter strands of his hair.

"Just to get my stuff. Well, whatever of it is there. Half my clothes are in Esthar and we left those behind."

"I know," she said. "Mine got left there as well. When this is all settled I'll see if the government can return them."

"It's no big deal." Seifer shrugged, rubbing his fingers along the stubble on his jaw. "Just jeans and t-shirts, Trepe. Nothing worth losing sleep over."

"I certainly wasn't going to lose sleep," she muttered, straightening up with a little yawn.

He smirked slightly, that cocky glint alighting in his eyes.

"Tired?"

She rolled her eyes, hands coming to rest on her hips.

"No."

"Oh don't lie, Trepe. I know you didn't get much sleep last night."

He leered and her fingers itched to slap him. Instead she curled them into fists.

"Don't call me that. And don't be an ass, Seifer. I'd rather we not say our goodbyes that way."

He shrugged, refusing to meet her gaze.

"You don't have to make such a big deal out of it," he muttered, feeling uncomfortable.

She sighed and fell silent again, leaning down to pick up her shoes. When she glanced over at him he didn't look so cocky and self-assured anymore. She could see the same hunched shoulders and bent blond head of a very young boy, alone and hurting, whose only way to deal was to lash out at others. She understood that now as she hadn't then.

"Seifer…"

He looked up at her, his gaze wary and said nothing, waiting for her to continue.

"Why don't you… come to my room? Stay the night okay? Just… I'd like for you to stay tonight."

"Why?" He looked incredulous. "It won't change the fact that I'm leaving tomorrow."

"I know. I don't expect it to. I don't want to talk about that. Just come over. Please?"

Seifer hesitated for a long moment.

"Okay."

oooOOOOooo

It was hardly five minutes from the time that he'd disappeared from the balcony to the knock on her door but Quistis felt almost as if she had been suspended in an infinity of waiting. She was startled by the sound of the knock, like coming awake from a dream,and the coolness of the knob against her hand when she opened the door was a reminder of reality.

Seifer stood on the other side, like a picture in the door frame, wearing one of the t-shirts she'd bought him earlier and a pair of jeans. The socks on his feet were new and he'd left his shoes behind. She stood there just looking at him for a long moment until he grew uncomfortable, scuffing one socked foot against the thick hallway carpet.

"Are you going to let me in or what?"

"Right..." Smiling sheepishly she stepped back to let him in. He smelled of stale cigarettes and hotel soap. For some reason it made her want to grab a hold of him and burrow herself close. Maybe if she did he wouldn't leave.

Instead she closed the door and watched him step further into the room. His hair curling at the nape of his neck suggested he might need a trim, but she liked the slightly rumpled look of it- like a permanent bed-head. She could clearly recall how it had felt in her hands.

"We're heading out towards the Salt Flats tomorrow," she said, filling the silence to distract her own thoughts.

"Why?" he asked, only half interested in the answer as he sat on the foot of her bed.

"That's where the GF's have their base, according to Dr. Odine. Our purpose is diplomacy, but there's no guarantee they'll even be open to that."

Seifer shrugged, lying back with a sigh.

"What's the alternative? An all-out Guardian Force war?"

"Pretty much," she said. "And we know the outcome of that would be lots of SeeD deaths. It's why Squall thinks a peace treaty is in our best interest."

"I guess." He shrugged again carelessly.

Truth be told neither one of them could guess what sort of agreement they would have to make with the rogue GF's. War might be preferable.

Quistis sat gingerly beside him on the bed, watching the play of the sunlight filtering in through the balcony windows across the comforter. She turned slightly when she felt his hand against the small of her back. It was warm and more comforting than it should have been. She held onto it, pressing her own palm against his chest. She could feel the beat of his heart- steady and strong. Seifer slid his hand from her back to her hip, drawing her to lie beside him and she curled into his warmth, her face pressed against his shoulder.

Here and now it felt simple, the two of them, and she wondered why it had to be complicated at all.

When he drew her atop him she didn't resist and turned to press her face into the hollow of his throat, her lips rubbing against his pulse line. A soft groan rumbled through him and he slid his hands down her back to rest against the curve of her ass.

Quistis shifted, tucking one leg between both of his. He threaded one hand into her hair, tugging until she tilted her head back so that their lips could meet in a deep kiss. His teeth scraped against her lower lip lightly and Quistis slid her hands up under his shirt to stroke over his bare skin.

Sitting up to straddle his waist she tugged the shirt up over his head and dropped it to the floor. Seifer's hands skimmed up over her sides, cupping her breasts through the thin cotton top she wore.

She leaned in close to press a kiss against his chest, her fingers tracing a scar along his ribcage. He trembled at her touch and she smiled. Seifer grasped her hips to press her close to him and she moaned, feeling the evidence of his arousal between the clothes that still separated them.

With one hand he pulled her shirt off and the reached back to unhook the simple white bra she wore beneath it. Quistis reached down to undo his jeans with nimble fingers, which brushed against him through the black fabric of his boxer briefs. Seifer half-growled at her, rolling them on the bed to pin her beneath him. Her bare breasts pressed against his chest as she arched her back, craving skin-to-skin contact.

Seifer's mouth claimed hers in a hungry kiss. She could feel the faint stubble on his chin rub against her jaw line as he traced a path with his lips down her throat. His breath was hot against the swell of her breast,but she shivered as her skin flushed. His tongue teased over her nipple and she cried out, her hands fisting in his hair.

Quistis hardly noticed that he'd worked her free of her pants and was easing her panties over her hips when he lifted his head to smile at her slowly, his eyes dark with lust. She smiled back, affection swelling within her as the passion simmered under her skin.

Seifer helped her to get his jeans off, and it wasn't long before they were both unclothed, pressed intimately together. Quistis wrapped her arms around his shoulders, holding him against her and, as he was cradled between her legs, for a moment time seemed to stand still.

Then he was inside her and time lost all sense of meaning. She clutched at his back, their bodies moving together as if they always had. Seifer pressed open-mouthed kisses across her shoulders and against the sensitive skin behind her ear, murmuring something she couldn't understand and didn't try to. He slid one hand up her thigh to her hip, guiding her to wrap her leg around his waist.

Quistis could feel the pressure building within her body and her nails scratched at his back as they began to move more urgently. Her muscles clamped down around him and Seifer groaned her name loudly, following her towards a release that robbed him of all awareness.

Seifer's heavy breathing in her ear brought Quistis back to herself, and she blinked slowly as if to clear her mind with the simple act. Their heartbeats still raged together, pounding a matched rhythm against her chest. Quistis let out a long breath, nuzzling her head against his. No matter what she told herself, it wasn't just sex between them. If it was she never would have gone to bed with him in the first place. She wasn't that kind of girl.

Seifer shifted her in his arms, rolling onto his back, and she turned to curl against him for warmth. Neither of them said anything, but they didn't sleep either – too caught in their own thoughts of what might happen tomorrow- Quistis trying to deny that she didn't want to let him go and Seifer trying to deny that he would regret leaving.

Sleep fell across them eventually, as night fell across the city.